Microservices remains a hot topic in the tech world, at conferences, fire-side chats, and in boardrooms. Recurrent questions always arise: “What is the difference between Microservices and SOA? Are Microservices an evolution of SOA or something entirely different? SOA and Microservices occupy different territory. Microservices and SOA are similar in many respects, and very different in others.
Simply, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that supports service-orientation which initially became popular as a way of breaking complex applications down into discrete parts that could be managed easily. SOA is a software development model for distributed application components that incorporate discovery, access control, data mapping and security features. This collection of services that communicate with each other by either data passing or it could involve two or more services coordinating some activity. A third party method of connecting services to each other is often required.
Microservices are a variant of the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) architectural style that structures an application as a collection of loosely coupled services. In a Microservices architecture, services should be fine-grained, and the protocols should be lightweight.
The Microservices style of architecture develops complex application software from small, individual applications that communicate with each other using language-independent interfaces (APIs). Companies run into trouble if they are unable to scale monolithic architecture that has developed over time, if their architecture is difficult to upgrade or maintenance becomes too complex. SOA or Microservices can be the answer to this problem.
So what makes SOA different from Microservices? If both types of architecture involve breaking large applications into smaller services and facilitating easier communication within a network, why has Microservices been lauded as a revolutionary game changer, while SOA has been forgotten? The differences are slight but apparent.
A decentralized method of creating and maintaining applications means for fewer down times, quicker iterations, and a more flexible landscape. Monolithic applications are built and deployed as a single application, and small changes can easily suspend the use of entire systems until bugs are fixed.
Microservice architecture embeds a culture of freedom, responsibility, autonomy, inclusivity, deep communication, and fast iteration.
Under the Microservice approach, you can pick the best technology for specific features without running into stack or language issues.
For example - the profile service of an application may be written in Java, the login service may be written in an older version of C++, and the order service can be written in the latest version of C++ simultaneously.
There are many differences between SOA and Microservices. Based on the differences, Microservice architecture is a modern IT architecture that prepares many enterprises for digital transformation. There are also many reasons to implement the Microservices framework, from reduced IT cost to rapid deployment.